New Delhi, Feb 13: The All India Radio (AIR) is revising guidelines for allotment of time slots to private operators on the FM channel. The tender documents, with fresh guidelines, are likely to be made available within a week.
According to AIR sources, the new tender documents will contain clear guidelines with regard to `related companies', which had earlier led to a legal tussle between AIR and Raghuvar India Ltd.
"The new guidelines are been worked out with reference to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act", they said.
Sources added that the guidelines will clearly delineate the norms of bidding in which companies with shareholders or directors belonging to the same family will not be allowed to bid separately.
The bidders are also not likely to be allowed to bid for more than one prime-time slot in one of the three centres. However, the same will not apply for the non-prime time slots, sources added.
The guidelines are also unlikely to specify any requirement regardingprevious experience in radio broadcasting for the bidders.
Significantly, the AIR's move follows the Calcutta high court's verdict on a petition filed by Raghuvar India. AIR had cancelled the 1995 bids, in which Raghuvar had obtained 15 out of 32 slots, on the ground that one of the company's directors was related to the family whose other companies were holding time slots on FM channel.
The Calcutta high court ruled that AIR's guidelines were too vague and a fresh round of bids should be called.
The bids received by AIR for prime-time slots ranged between Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000 per hour. The existing rates for time slots on the FM are Rs 3,000 per prime hour and Rs 1,000 per non-prime hour.
Further, the union information and broadcasting ministry also scuttled AIR's move for revising the rates last year, when the existing leases expired in August.
AIR had proposed to increase the prime hour rate to Rs 10,000 and the non-prime hour to Rs 4,000. The information and broadcasting ministry, however,felt that such a decision should be taken by the Prasar Bharati Board. It extended the older leases till March.
Analysts in the field, however, say that the delay has deprived the AIR of revenue of up to Rs 18 crore. Sources in AIR said that the revenue situation can be further improved with the commissioning of the second FM channel.They added that the entire infrastructure is in place but the move was getting delayed only due to paucity of staff.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
